WOMAN OF HUGE TALENT

Trumpeter and singer Valaida Snow told many stories about herself. She was a huge star in the 1930s. A set of sides she recorded in 1936-37 London is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature.

PHANTOM DANCER

The Phantom Dancer is your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV every week. I’ve been bringing you The Phantom Dancer on radio 2SER, and now online, since 1985.

Listen on-air every Tuesday 12:04-2:00pm AEST (+11 GMT) and online

See this week’s full play list and video of the week below.

VALAIDA SNOW

was the daughter of vaudevillian parents and trod the boards herself at an early age in a duet act with her sister, Lavaida.

Her father was murdered by the Elephant Man in a pay dispute

DANCER

In the early 1920s she blew New York away with her tap dance act.

Louis Armstrong hailed her the greatest performer he had ever seen when he caught her act in a Chicago club. While playing trumpet, she stepped into seven different pairs of shoes in a line, including clogs and Russian boots, in each pair she’d do a different step related to the shoes. Her tap dancing was rated as up there with Bojangles.

WORLD TOUR

In the early 1930s, Valaida toured Asia and Europe, performing in Shanghai, Batavia, Rangoon, the Balkans, Paris and then London. She then starred in a Broadway show with Ethel Merman.

LONDON

Relevant to the records on this week’s Phantom Dancer, Valaida starred in Lew Leslie’s London production of ‘Blackbirds of 1934’. This lead to the Parlophone records I’ll be spinning for you today.

She did return to US for shows in Los Angeles and New York City based on the sell-out shows she’d been doing in London and she sold out shows in the US, too. During her time in LA she claimed to have made movies with Cary Grant and Miriam Hopkins.

GOLD TRUMPET

Returning to Europe she played and recorded again in London. She appeared in Switzerland, Paris and The Netherlands where Queen Wilhelmina presented her with a gold trumpet. In 1939-40 she played and recorded in Stockholm and Copenhagen.

ARREST

Despite the Nazi occupation of Denmark, she returned there in 1941. She was arrested and interned in a Gestapo prison in Copenhagen.

She returned to the US, broken, in 1943, as part of a prisoner exchange.

She never recovered from her Nazi imprisonment, weighing only 70 pounds when she returned to the US. Her incarceration’s debilitationg effect on her health killed her career.

She continued to perform in clubs in the US until she died in the mid 1950s.

VIDEO

This week’s Phantom Dancer video of the week features Valaida Snow singing and playing trumpet on ‘Patience and Fortitude’ on a soundie with the Ali Baba Trio in 1946

13 NOVEMBER PLAY LIST